Anti-spamming laws deny right of reply: Democrats

The federal government intended to allow religious and political organisations to flood email in-boxes with spam and deny other groups the right to respond, the Australian Democrats said today.

Proposed anti-spamming laws - barring unsolicited junk email - are due to be debated in the parliament later this month.

They exempt religious organisations, registered political parties and charities on condition their spam messages contain only factual information.

Democrats information technology spokesman Brian Greig said this selective advantage was likely to be exploited by the religious right.

"It is outrageous that fundamentalist church groups be allowed to spam the entire country with campaign messages opposing such things as abortion, contraception or homosexual law reform," Senator Greig said in a statement.

"While family planning organisations, gay and lesbian lobby groups or women's organisations would be prohibited from countering these messages with an alternative view.

"The government's attempt to legislate to ensure spam messages from exempted groups only consist of factual information is farcical and unworkable."